Awning assembly



W. E. BALL.

AWNING ASSEMBLY Jan. 24, 1956 Filed May 8, 1953 INVENTOR.

W/4 L/A/V/ 5 5 United States Patent AWNING ASSEMBLY William E. Ball, Clayton, Mo.

Application May 8, 1953, Serial No. 353,805

1 Claim. (Cl. 2057.5)

This invention relates to awning assemblies and more particularly to awning assemblies which may be marketed in disassembled or knocked down condition and assembled and installed by the purchaser.

It is among the objects of the invention to provide an improved awning assembly including bodies of self reinforced sheet material and a simplfied frame structure supporting the sheet material bodies and the parts of which are held in operative position by the sheet material bodies which they support; which includes a minimum number of frame parts of simple shape formed of readily available material, such as metal tubing; which utilizes a light transmitting and preferably colored material for the sheet material bodies; and which is of simple, strong and light weight construction, economical to manufacture, easy to assemble and install, and neat and attractive in appearance.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from a consideration of the following description and the appended claims in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure l is a perspective view of an assembled awning assembly illustrative of the invention;

Figure 2 is a perspective exploded view of the awning assembly illustrated in Figure 1; and

Figure 3 is a cross sectional view on the line 33 of Figure 1.

With continued reference to the drawing, the awning assembly includes a frame structure comprising U-shaped bails and 11 formed of suitable materiaLsuch as lengths of light weight, metal tubing and disposed in superposed relationship to each other when the awning is assembled. The bail 10 has a straight intermediate portion 12 and legs 13 and 14 extending perpendicularly in the same direction from the intermediate portion one at each end of the latter and having their longitudinal center lines in a common plane which also includes the longitudinal center line of the intermediate portion 12. The bail 11 has a straght intermediate portion 15 and equal length legs 16 and 17 extending perpendicularly in the same direction from the intermediate portion 15 with their longitudinal center lines in a common plane which also includes the longitudinal center line of the intermediate portion 15. When the bails 10 and 11 are superimposed in the assembled condition of the awning, the intermediate portion 15 of the upper bail 11 is spaced above and substantially parallel to the intermediate portion 12 of the lower bail 10 and the legs 16 and 17 of the upper bail are upwardly inclined relative to the corresponding legs 13 and 14 of the lower bail in a direction away from the intermediate portion 15 of the upper bail.

The legs of the bails 1t) and 11 are provided near their distal ends with transverse apertures, as indicated at 18, and sleeves, as indicated at 19, are disposed one in each leg aperture. Wall mounting brackets, as generally indicated at 20, are disposed one at the distal end of each leg of the bails 10 and 11, each of these brackets including a perforated web portion 21 and perforated ears 22 and 23 extending perpendicularly from the web portion 21 one at each side of the web portion and disposed in spaced apart and parallel relationship to each other. Each bail leg is disposed at its distal end between the ears of a corresponding bracket 20 with the corresponding sleeve 19 in registry with the apertures in the bracket ears, and a screw 24 extends through the bracket ears and the corresponding sleeve and receives a nut 25 to detachably secure the legat its distal end to the corresponding bracket. The brackets may be permanently secured in proper position on a buildin g wall by suitable fasteners extending through the apertures in the bracket webs. A strut 27, also constituted by a length of metal tubing, is secured at one end to the intermediate portion 15 of the upper bail 11 by a band clamp 28 substantially at the mid length location of the intermediate portion 15 and the strut extends from the bail intermediate portion 15 substantially perpendicular thereto and with its longitudinal center line substantially in a plane which also includes the longitudinal center lines of the upper bail. At its free end remote from the bail intermediate portion 15 the strut 27 is provided with a transverse aperture 21) and one of the brackets 20 is secured to the strut at this end thereof by a sleeve 19, screw 24 and nut 25, as described above.

All of the brackets 20 are adapted to be permanently mounted on an associated building wall by suitable fasteners extending through the apertured web portions of the brackets and the awning can be removed from the building wall by merely withdrawing the screws 24 from the corresponding brackets 20.

It will be noted that the frame assembly comprises only three simple parts and that the frame itself does not include any members interconnecting the bails 10 and 11, these bails being held in the above described, superposed relationship to each other by the sheet material bodies which constitute the cover of the awning.

It is contemplated that the awning cover will comprise bodies formed of a corrugated, light transmitting sheet material, such as a glass fibre reinforced synthetic resin material, the bodies themselves being self-reinforced by the corrugated construction thereof.

The cover comprises sheet material bodies 30 and 31 of substantially trapezoidal shape disposed one at each end of the frame structure with the body 30 extending across the space between the frame legs 16 and 13 and marginally secured to these legs and the body 31 extending across the space between the frame legs 17 and 14 and marginally secured to the corresponding legs, bodies 32 and 33 of substantially elongated rectangular shape disposed at the front side of the frame structure and extending across the space between the intermediate portion 15 and 12 of the frame bails 11 and 10. The bodies 32 and 33 each have a length somewhat less than one-half the length of the intermediate portions of the bails and the body 32 extends from the outer end of the body 30 to a location spaced from the mid-length locations of the intermediate portions 15 and 12 and the body 33 extends from the outer end of the body 31 to a location spaced from the mid-length locations of the intermediate portions 15 and 12 and from the adjacent end of the body 32. A third front body 34 overlaps the adjacent ends of the bodies 32 and 33 and extends across the space between the adjacent ends of these bodies. The bodies 32, 33 and 34 are marginally secured to the intermediate portions 15 and 12 of the upper and lower bails 11 and 10 and together with the bodies 30 and 31 hold the bails 10 and 11 in their spaced apart and superposed relationship to each other. The corrugations of the bodies 30 to 34 inclusive are disposed substantially perpendicular to the legs and intermediate portion of the bottom bail which is substantially horizontally disposed so that these bodies are stiffened or self-reinforced in a direction extending transversely of the space between the legs and the intermediate portions of the two bails.

A cover body 35 of the same corrugated sheet material as the side bodies is disposed on the upper bail 11 and extends over the space between the legs 16 and 17 of this bail and marginally beyond the legs 16 and 17 and the intermediate portion 15 of the upper bail. This cover is secured to the legs and intermediate portion of the upper bail and has its corrugations disposed substantially parallel to the intermediate portion 15 of the associated bail 11 so that it rigidly holds the bail legs 16 and 17 in spaced apart and substantially parallel relationship to each other.

The tubular material of which the frame parts are formed is of light weight and the corrugated sheet material of which the cover members are formed is also of light weight and both the frame material and the cover material is of high structural strength so that an awning of light weight and high structural strength is provided. The cover members are secured to the associated frame members by simple fasteners, such as selfthreading screws inserted through holes in the cover members and through transverse apertures in the corresponding frame members so that the awning is easy to assemble and disassemble and can be marketed in disassembled or knocked-down condition and easily asforms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiment is, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claim rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claim are, therefore, intended to be embraced therein.

What is claimed is:

An awning assembly comprising a frame structure including U-shaped bails disposed in superposed and spaced apart relationship to each other with intermediate portions thereof substantially parallel and the legs of the upper bail inclined upwardly from the corresponding legs of the lower bail, a brace strut connected at one end to the intermediate portion of said upper bail and extending substantially perpendicularly from the associated intermediate portion with its longitudinal center line substantially in a plane including the longitudinal center line of said upper bail, mounting brackets -detachably secured to the distal ends of the legs of said bails and to the free end of said strut, bodies of self: reinforced sheet material extending across the space between and around said upper and lower bails and secured to said bails to hold said bails in superposed and spaced apart relationship relative to each other, and a body of self-reinforced sheet material extending over the area within said upper bail and marginally secured to the latter, said bodies of corrugated sheet material being formed of a colored and light transmitting material.

References Cited in the fiie of this patent UNlTED STATES PATENTS 394,120 Knoblanch Dec. 4, 1888 796,460 Sharp Aug. 8, 1905 2,066,227 Reukauf, Jr., et al Dec. 29, 1936 2,500,864 Preaus et al. Mar. 14, 1950 

